Process for the continuous manufacture of floor coverings



A. LANNOYE Dec. 10, 1-929.

PROCESS FOR THE CONTINUOUS MANUFACTURE OF' FLOOR COVERINGS Filed Jan. 28, 1928 3 Sheets -Sheet 1 A. LANNOYE 1,738,591 PROCESS FOR THE commuous MANUFACTURE OF moon covERINGs Dec. 10, 1929.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 LLL Dec, 10, was. A. LANNOYE 1,738,591

Pnocsss FOR THE counrwous MANUFACTURE OF moon covmums Filed Jan. 28. 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Dec. 10,1929

UNITED .srAT-Es PATENT oFFrcE Aueus'rn worn, or enuvnn, BELGIUM rnocnss non rim cou'rmuous mauurncruanor rnooa' ccvnnmds Application filed January 28, 1928, Serial No. 259,317, and in Belgium J'anuary'26, 1927.

The present invention has "for itsf'object to considerably increase'the practical output in the manufacture of floor-coverings made of-a fabric orfelt layer impregnated with 5 some binding substance, preferably a bitumi-' nous compound such as petroleumasphalt,

at the same time avoiding, to a great extent, the many accidents the workers are. now

liable to. The coverings prepared in this wayare coated on both sides with .successive layers of various substances, of printin colours and varnishes, whereafter they can e delivered and utilized for the covering of floors.

The successive operations were carried out,

'15 heretofore, separately,

- manner.

by a paper or cardboard manufacturer, and the rolls were submitted to a sequence of treatments, wherein they were first dipped into the bituminous bath, next to which the back of the sheet was given a colour, its other side bein given a coating and then aprint,

to be fina y varnished, cut to size, rolled up l packed for de'spatch, and so on.

15 I That method of manufacture involves very serious drawbacks, vizz 1. Asany woollen fabric has much hygrometric aflinity, it readil takes up and retains the naturalmoisture o atmospheric air thus :0 acquiring a fairly great percentage of water after several hours, say even as much as 8 to 10 ercent after a fewdays, according to the ygrometric condition of the air. Now, when undergoing the second phase of the treatmentthe dipping into a bitumi nous bath kept in liquid state by the maintenance of about 200 degrees of heata portion of the water thus taken up from the air, was immediately re-converted into vapour, while a portion remained in the felt in the state of an occluded vapour which took the room of a certain amount of the bituminousbinding between the woollen fibres; assumlng the felt to be sectioned and examined through a powerful magnifying glass, quite a number of smallhollow' nodules or .tiny cells will be seen between those woollen fibres a felt entirely free from water to have een i. e. in a discontinuous- The felt was delivered up in rolls and the bituminous agglutinate solidified. Assum-- --ing in solid state :and free from any such cells (compare the sectional views of Fig. 8 andFig. 9) As a result, the first named felt, of a spongy appearance, will be, when cold, far more compressible than the second one, and it wil1,'therefore, when utilized as a floor covering be far more liable toget and keep stamped marks caused by legs of heavy furo niture or other heavy bodies laid on the floor. This drawback is a very-serious one, and the marks thus printed into the covering will, of course, be less deep if the felt is free from moisture on being immersed, owing tothe 5 absence of such cells which are propitious to the penetration of heavy bodies and to the corresponding decrease (of thickness of the floor-cloth.

. 2. That moisture takenup-by the felt asa result of its getting vaporlzed in the bath, renders this bath much cooler;

3. -The sequence of operations hitherto carried out result in a heavy loss of materialsat every starting and every time a roll is at its end; the amount wasted is the more considerable as the quantity wound up has less 4 length, and these rolls can have but a coinpa-ratively restricted length, as they would, otherwise, become so heavy as to exclude any so possibility of being manipulated;

4. That sequence .of operations require many hands, as the cloth must be wound up again after every operation; now, winding it up. again means another'waste, besides its re-. -s5 quiringthe employment of veryp'recise and complicated machinery;

5. All of those operations require manual handling by workers, viz:

a. Immersioninto the bituminous bath at a high temperature, whereby accidents fre quently occur; severe scalds are unavoidable I whenever the operators are splashed with liquid, etc. v

1). Introducing the cloth in coating. machines or into printing cylinders, at. the beginning of each roll, likewise brings about serious accidents by reason of hands or fingers getting squeezed and crushed.

As to winding up the covering after its 10c having been dried, this operation is another cause of dangerous mani )ulations by the workers hands and arms. etween every two .operations, rolls weighing thousands of pounds have to be carried off, and this is a further cause of accidents however cautious the op)erators may be.

ther waste cannot be avoided.

To eliminate all these drawbacks, the function of the plant for the n'lanufacture of floor coverings should be uninterrupted, i. e., instead of having to stop work twenty or thirty times a day, the plant would simply be started every morning, or, in the case ofa day-andnight running, one operation per week for starting it, would be sufficient.

We are to show and describe hereinafter, by way of a non-restrictive example, a diagram of plant executed in accordance with the present invention and enabling the operators to secure the result aimed at.

Inthe accompanying drawings:

Figs. 1 to 7 are vertical diagrams of a part of plant having its various machines shown in series with one another;

Fig. 5"" is a modified plant wherein printing of they design would be effected by means of a machine e nipped with a table and with a lane set of ies or stamps;

ig. 8 is an enlarged sectional view through the cloth manufactured by a discontinuous method as was previously practised, the objectionable'va our bubbles being shown occluded in the abric;

Fig. 9, which is an enlarged sectional view of va cloth obtained bythe novel method, shows the homogeneousness secured by this method.

To carry the inventors aim into practice, one has to erect a paper or cardboard machine comprising: a tub a containing the woolly aper pulp; a strainer b for freeing the pulp rom its impurities; a metal cloth a whereon the felt is to be applied; presses d, e, f, to squeeze the leaf in order to expel most of its water, all of which function uninterruptedly, next to which comes a powerful drying plant comprising steam-heated cylinders g, the pressure applied being such as to make surethat the cloth will issue in a completely anhydrous condition, whereupon it will be passed between two very flat and hollow latens' 11, wherein steam is circulated at a igh pressure, so as to maintain the cloth very hot; this latter then enters into the bituminous bath k, whose correct temperature is maintained by means of either gas burners or of any other contrivances; the felt being let out in a very hot state, will first undergo a pressure at j by two rolling cylinders simi lar to those of rolling mills, whereby its outer surface will come out very polished. At the point 70, the cloth will be suddenly cooled down by the action of cold-air-blast devices or other contrivances such as artificial rain, cooling agents chiefly ,made of chloride of calcium or the like; the cloth then passes on to Z, where its back is coated with some water.- proof substance made of rosin (either naturalor obtained by synthesis) it will then pass on to a suspending device 2 to staythere several hours for drying up that first coating. The cloth then passes etween two rolling cylinders m to be next directed on to asecond coating machine 1, whereby its other side is coated with a pigmental colour, 0r chalk, or sulphate of barium and a siccative oil. The coating will be then dried up on a long suspending machine dp' during 24 hours or so, under suitable con it ture and additional action of either ultra-violet rays or of ozone. The sheet then passes again between two rolling cylinders o and from there over the alternate sides of the consecutive units of a set of cylinders g.

The uninterrupted sheet will then be iven the printing by means of a rotary ta 1e 1 with cylindrical stamps 2 or by a pla'nemachine comprising a plane table 3 and lane stamps 4, as indicated in Fig. 5 pon either of these machines, the recto-side r of the cloth will be given the multicoloured design, whereupon the uninterrupted sheet will pass on to a drying plant p" serving to dry up the printing during a time of 12 to 24 hours. ratus, will passon through two rolling cy ders s and over a row of cylinders t to the varnishing machine u by which the carpet will be imparted the required brilliancy.

Next thereto, a fourth drying-up sta e in the suspending machine 12' followedlg a Ipressing between rolling cylinders 'v and en y winding up by a device here diagrammatically indicated at 'w, m, 3 said felt is fed on at the same rate of speed in all of the devices. I

A plant executed after this invention means obtention of considerable advantages, the most prominent of which are:

1. Formation of a felt far more homogeneous, and therefore less liable to being penetrated by .the legs of ieces of furniture etc.;

ions of temperahe felt, on leaving the driving appaby successively making a web, drying, heating, impregnating, polishing, cooling,- coating one side, drying, coatin the other side, drying, pressing, printing, ryin'g, pressing, varnishing, dryingand pressing without reeling the web between the successive operations.

2. A method of makingsh'ghtly compressible floor coverings with impregnated felt, characterized by continuously producing the raw web, drying, heating s'aid 'web,.immers ing it in a bituminous bath, polishing, cooling it, coating its-back side with a water proof substance, drying it, coating itsfront side with a colouring substance, drying it with the help of ultra-violet rays or ozone, pressing it, printing its front side, drying, pressing it, varnishing its front side, dryin and pressing it, the successive operations being carried out uninterrupte'dly without-intermediate reeling.

- In testimony whereof I signed hereunto my name,

AUGUSTE LANNOYE. 

